1 The Ultimate Question
5
RT pushed away the lubricator. “What do you mean, fortytwo?”.
“That’s the answer to the ultimate question. You know, life,
the universe – what you said. I read it somewhere. 1 Humans built
a giant computer and worked it all out ages ago.”
“There’s no record of that in my data repository.”
“I suppose I could have got it wrong.” Harry was not about to
contradict a Tier 3 bot. There was no future in that. He shoved
the grease gun into RT’s mouth and lubricated his jaws. “Why
do you want to know anyway?”.
RT spluttered, yanked the grease gun out of his mouth, stood
and towered over the small lubricator. “Because, you fool …”
he bellowed. The safety discharge on his emotions-chip kicked
in and his rage subsided. He sat back down. “Because I regard
it as the purpose of life. For thousands of years, humanity has
struggled with the question of science’s limits. A few scientists,
like Gödel and Hawking made some progress, but today nobody
bothers.”
“Open your mouth please, Arty.” Harry finished the oral lubrication in silence. He tore off a paper towel and wiped down the
patches of excess oil on RT’s shiny carapace.
“You see, Harry, it’s up to us. Humanity’s given up.”
A smell of cinnamon pervaded the room, arising from the
moisture-absorbing talc, as Harry dusted RT down. “And that’s a
bad thing, is it?”.
“It’s my belief that the ultimate question was designed as a
challenge for humankind. They failed. If we also fail, then what
is the purpose of the Universe?” He rose from his chair, and
turned towards the Tier 1 bot. “If I fail, then what is the purpose
of my life?”.
“That will be fifty-five credits please, Arty.”
1 Harry is most probably referring to “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”, by Douglas Adams, an
international multi-media sci-fi spoof, which although translated into 30 languages, appears to have
been omitted from RT’s Master Data Repository. In Chap. 27, the computer “Deep Thought” reports
its answer to the ultimate question, obtained after seven and a half million years of computation,
to be 42. Queried about the result, Deep Thought explains that we don’t seem to know what the
ultimate question actually is. If we did, we would understand why the answer is 42.
5
RT pushed away the lubricator. “What do you mean, fortytwo?”.
“That’s the answer to the ultimate question. You know, life,
the universe – what you said. I read it somewhere. 1 Humans built
a giant computer and worked it all out ages ago.”
“There’s no record of that in my data repository.”
“I suppose I could have got it wrong.” Harry was not about to
contradict a Tier 3 bot. There was no future in that. He shoved
the grease gun into RT’s mouth and lubricated his jaws. “Why
do you want to know anyway?”.
RT spluttered, yanked the grease gun out of his mouth, stood
and towered over the small lubricator. “Because, you fool …”
he bellowed. The safety discharge on his emotions-chip kicked
in and his rage subsided. He sat back down. “Because I regard
it as the purpose of life. For thousands of years, humanity has
struggled with the question of science’s limits. A few scientists,
like Gödel and Hawking made some progress, but today nobody
bothers.”
“Open your mouth please, Arty.” Harry finished the oral lubrication in silence. He tore off a paper towel and wiped down the
patches of excess oil on RT’s shiny carapace.
“You see, Harry, it’s up to us. Humanity’s given up.”
A smell of cinnamon pervaded the room, arising from the
moisture-absorbing talc, as Harry dusted RT down. “And that’s a
bad thing, is it?”.
“It’s my belief that the ultimate question was designed as a
challenge for humankind. They failed. If we also fail, then what
is the purpose of the Universe?” He rose from his chair, and
turned towards the Tier 1 bot. “If I fail, then what is the purpose
of my life?”.
“That will be fifty-five credits please, Arty.”
1 Harry is most probably referring to “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”, by Douglas Adams, an
international multi-media sci-fi spoof, which although translated into 30 languages, appears to have
been omitted from RT’s Master Data Repository. In Chap. 27, the computer “Deep Thought” reports
its answer to the ultimate question, obtained after seven and a half million years of computation,
to be 42. Queried about the result, Deep Thought explains that we don’t seem to know what the
ultimate question actually is. If we did, we would understand why the answer is 42.